Noir City Festival - Castro Theatre.

On January 22nd, 2012, a tribute to Vera Caspary was presented as part of the Noir Film Festival at The Castro Theatre. The festival started on January 20th and ended on the 29th, showing classics such as Mr. Dynamite, Gilda, The House On Telegraph Hill, Point Blank, Unfaithfully Yours, Naked Alibi, The Great Gatsby and many other noir works of art. As cited before, Vera Caspary was honored with a double feature night of her own writing work, including the hardly known british "Bedelia" and the very famous Otto Preminger adaptation of "Laura".

Bedelia - The Queen of The British Femme Fatales.

After a long heartbreak by Otto Preminger's adaptation of her Laura, Vera Caspary decided to hide "Bedelia" from the hands of Hollywood. She brought her new screenplay to alternative British filmmaking and followed up with a great cast, the wonderful Lance Comfort direction and a much more intimate production(in relation to Laura). In the beginning of the night at The Castro, there was a speech about the "conspiracies" of this movie and how it would only be allowed to be shown once in every theatre that miraculously put their hands into it. It is a very rare 35mm print that will not be shared many places. In fact, it is very hard - almost impossible - to find it in a video rent store. "A piece of treasure", as the founder of the Festival, Mr. Eddie Muller - who is also a great film/theatre noir writer and who I have had the pleasure to meet when I was in a reading of his new play, Fear over Frisco - said.

Bedelia, played by the "queen of the British femme fatales", Margaret Lockwood, represents the grave danger in women recognized at that period of time. Strong, seductive, forceful, vigorous. The true meaning of a young film noir female character. The plot, the story, is absolutely wonderful. It magnetizes the audience like a good book you can't stop reading. Margaret makes a great job on her acting, giving her Bedelia a touch of drama and sometimes making the audience wonder if she is a hero or an anti-hero. It is wonderful to know we still have that wonder in the world and that maybe some people will still be able to see it. If it wasn't so secretive, I am sure it would be a very famous classic, just like Laura is.

Laura - The Grand Mystery.

Adapted by Jay Dratler, "Laura" is one of the most famous mysteries of all the History of Filmmaking. The amazing acting, - including the very young Vincent Price, who I almost didn't recognize - wonderful direction by Otto Preminger and the amazing cinematography and wardrobe choices makes me think that Vera Caspary had a love-hate relationship to this movie. Even though it is a great adaptation, Vera could not stand to see her screenplay turned into something absolutely different. If "Laura" was adapted in the way Vera wrote it, it would have been a different story, with a different plot and even maybe different actors for the characters. If there is an example of an artist not knowing how to "kill their baby", Vera Caspary was definitely it.

Laura tells a story about a detective(played by the great Dana Andrews) that falls in love with a murder victim, Laura(played by Gene Tierney). The film's build up is absolutely great. The secret being revealed in the end works perfectly with the timing of the movie. Impeccable cinematography, Oscar-winning. Great direction, great acting, great film overall. For those who have a preference for mysteries, it is more than recommendable.

Winding Refn, the Scorpion, the rage and the Drive.

Last night at The Lumiere, I decided to watch a movie that would change my perspective on action films. We all know the story: stay close to Enter The Dragon, The French Connection, The Seven Samurai or even Die Hard. Action movies are usually not supposed to be subtle or delicately complex. That is why I fell in love with Nicolas Winding Refn - also director of Bronson and Valhalla Rising, which I haven't seen yet, but might give them a chance. The impeccable direction of the movie, followed by a great screenplay taken by the book, Drive, from James Sallis and adapted by Hossein Amini, made my legs shake when leaving the theatre. There is nothing like the feeling of catharsis, and I tell you - Drive does that to you without previous expectations.

It's hard to know where to start. I am not sure if it is because of the absolute amazing build-up that the movie presents or if it would be because of the subtlety of the acting, which we would have to say grace for(even if you aren't religious). It is hard to find today an actor that we know will be in our future, that will enter the History of filmmaking like De Niro or Brando. If Ryan Gosling hadn't reached that level to you before Drive, go watch the movie and feel save about our future in film acting. Besides his wonderful ability to control his eyes in a perfect way to show emotions - knowing exactly what he is doing - he also knows exactly how to construct a character. Of course it is obvious to anyone who watches the movie that his performance is beautiful, so I believe we can also give high credits to his co-workers, Carry Mulligan, - who I fell in love with after 'An Education' and am excited to see perform in 'Shame' - Bryan Cranston, - yes! Malcom in The Middle! - Albert Brooks, our great vilan, Ron Pearlman, the gorgeous and sort of new to me, Christina Hendricks and obviously we couldn't forget the scorpion jacket, who embodied a strong character after little bit of blood and car grease.

I profoundly believe that this movie has reached its peak because of the blaséness it has perforated in it, but with boldness too. The scenes with the blood, through the build up, the approach to the audience, who was probably not expecting it(at least me) was absolutely necessary. Fantastic. The respiration, the long pauses, the pace itself - perfect. And I have to cite something one of my good, good friends said that was very true: the scene at the beach had a huge remembrance to Jason. Mainly because of the music - which was perfect for the movie as well.

I applaud Drive, Mr. Refn and all the cast and crew for giving us such a rush. And will most definitely be more attent to Refn's works.